Kill the monster

Someone banged repeatedly at the door.

"Suzie, open, darling! It's me, uncle Bibi. Are you safe?" Uncle Bibi's voice resonated from outside.

"Oh, oh, talk of a Monster and he will surely appear," the young Miss Suzie told her nanny while rushing to unlock the door.

Like a mad buffalo, uncle Bibi entered the house and walked around to detect any suspicious movement.

"Thank our ancestors! You are all fine," Uncle Bibi exclaimed relieved, his eyes heaved to the sky, and the palms of his two hands stuck against each other.

"Bibi, was it that bird of ill omen that was howling?" Grandma asked her son while displaying a sign of anxiety on her face.

"But it can't be. It was beheaded by Babida the lumberjack," she went on, answering hence her question.

"You are right mommy but I guess the Monster had procreated before attacking the empire. It was killed but no one ever inspected the mountain afterward." Uncle Bibi assumed, then gently hit his forehead with his right hand as he just realized how terrible such an eventuality would be.

"Procreated?" Grandma blurted confused.

"If that was indeed the case. Why has it taken so long? Why did it take fifteen years for its progeniture to reveal its existence?" She interrogated her son who remained silent.

The granddaughter Suzie observed her grandmother and her uncle elaborate on a topic that was again just a few hours ago unknown to her. Despite her shaky knowledge of the past, she involved herself in the discussion and began to make assumptions.

"My thought is that the Monster indeed laid an egg or more. How did it copulate? It's a mystery but anyway it has a descendant," she brainstormed while Big momma and uncle Bibi were listening to her carefully.

"The fact that a big howl emanated from the forbidden mountain right after the earthquake is not a fortunate coincidence. I believe the power of the vibration fractured the egg's shell, ending therefore a fifteen-year-old maturation," she deduced while her relatives looked at her dazed by the fertility of her brain.

"Oh Venus, God of the gods! Suzie, you're a G-E-N-I-U-S, genius, darling." Uncle Bibi told her, eyes wide open, jumping and tapping the ground at a rapid speed.

"Clap here my little angel! The plausibility of your hypothesis is simply mind-boggling." Grandmother complimented her while showing the palm of her right hand to perform a high five.

"Okay, it's time to go to bed now.,"Uncle Bibi said to the two women.

"Both of you, go upstairs to your respective rooms! As for me, I will from now on sleep on the old hammock. Batang empire is no longer a haven," he asserted.

The two ladies did as uncle Bibi had suggested. The latter kept a close watch over the chalet. He stayed up for a while, then when he got exhausted, he stepped inside the hammock and fell asleep.

The morning had just started, however a lot of things was already going on in the imperial palace. Following the chaotic events of the last night, Batang V, the Emperor, summoned the twenty honorable wise men of the empire to attend an extraordinary congress by sunrise. Their chariots raced as fast as they could toward the main entrance of the castle. Before the first sunray of the day, they were all seated around His Majesty.

They manifested to him their regrets as Edimo, the god of ruin, did not spare the imperial family. The back fence of the supreme residence was destroyed. The statue of the Emperor's late father, The Great Batang IV in the center of Ekule did not escape from the wreckage either. It was dismembered.

The meeting's purpose was to adopt a set of measures to prevent the land from any further misfortune.

"Prominent congressmen, as you all know, the empire last night endured the ruthlessness of the god of destruction," Batang V said as an opening statement to the council of wise men.

"Great damages have been accounted for across the land. A lot of villagers are now facing the hardship of a painful wake-up. So are you and the imperial household," he pursued.

"However there is a far greater concern. A reverberating howl was heard right after the earthquake. The palace's Oracles are categorical. It came from the Forbidden Mountain and for them, a new Monster was born. That's why the moon turned grey," the Emperor announced to the congressmen who were mystified and invaded by a sudden fear.

"Save us, my Lord!" The youngest of the wise men cried out while running to bow before His Majesty.

"Rise, Duda! Rise!" The Emperor commanded him. The latter obeyed and stood on the left side of the Ruler.

"I called you here today so we can anticipate any attack of this bird of ill omen," he confessed.

"My Lord, we should send by tomorrow our bravest warriors to the Forbidden Mountain. We should strike the beast first and we shall do so on its territory so we could preserve our properties from more demolition and our loved ones from an ugly death," the Senior member of the assembly advised.

"Brilliant idea, Honorable Buba! However we will not have to wait until tomorrow. We will do it right now," the Emperor proclaimed emphatically while getting off his chair, his scepter in his right hand.

"Scribe!" He shouted and a man came up to him in a hurry, holding in his hands a papyrus, a feather, and a calabash of ink.

"By Imperial Order of His Majesty, Batang V, the Fifth Ruler of the Batang dynasty. All men aged sixteen years and above, and whose qualifications to wield with dexterity a sword or any lethal weapon can not be doubted, are hereby instructed to join a military expedition to the Forbidden Mountain. The goal of the imperial mission is to slay the head of the newborn Monster and bring it to His Majesty on a silver platter. The victor will receive as a reward the medal of the highest honor and merit along with a thousand Batangi," the Sovereign decreed.